One of the buildings at Georgia Gwinnett College in Lawrenceville, Ga., shown in 2007. / Gene Blythe AP

by Matt Cantor, Newser

by Matt Cantor, Newser

A 19-year-old college student was flunking English again, so he did what any struggling student fearful of mom and dad's wrath would do: faked his own kidnapping, police say.

Aftab Aslam's parents got a text saying the Georgia Gwinnett College student had been kidnapped; if they called police, he'd be killed, the message said. Turns out the text came from a phone Aslam himself had bought at Target, according to police, who were told of the text by Aslam's parents right after they received it on April 27, reports Johns Creek Patch.

Aslam surfaced at his home eight days later, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. At first, he told police he'd been taken and drugged, but eventually he retracted the story, and the truth came out. He had actually camped in a tent in an undeveloped section of Forsyth County but returned when the weather got bad, police say. He turned himself in last week and now faces a slew of charges, including three felony counts each of false statements, tampering with evidence, and terroristic threats.

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